CHOICE appoints Viveka Weiley to lead the New Things Lab

Consumer advocacy group CHOICE today announced the appointment of Viveka Weiley to the newly created position of Head of New Things.

"I feel incredibly lucky to join such a powerful consumer advocacy group at a time when so much needs to be done to help consumers navigate increasingly complex purchasing decisions," says Mr Weiley.

"Consumers know that CHOICE is on their side which is critically important in an age when how, and what, we consume is changing more rapidly than ever before.

"We'll be working with innovators, researchers, campaigners and the 160,000 CHOICE members to gain insights and build a portfolio of ideas to field test. The results of those field tests will tell us what gets consumers excited, what to investigate further and what to scale up," says Mr Weiley.

Weiley comes from a background in design research and technology, most recently as Creative Director of R&D at the ABC and a researcher with UTS Innovation and Creative Intelligence.

CHOICE CEO Alan Kirkland said: "We are delighted to welcome Viveka to the CHOICE team. This is part of a substantial investment by CHOICE in new ways to help consumers.

"CHOICE has a proud history of innovation. In 1959, a bunch of passionate consumers had a vision for an organisation led by a national magazine, which they rapidly built from the ground up.

"By the mid-1990s CHOICE had its first website and in 2000 it established a digital subscription model, which rapidly grew to become the organisation's major source of revenue.

"We want to capture the spirit of innovation that drove these changes to do a bunch of new things that delight and excite Australian consumers, especially in markets where their needs are being poorly met. These will be driven out of the New Things Lab, led by Viveka."

To power the New Things Lab CHOICE is drawing upon the unique expertise of current staff, bringing in new talent, and looking to partner with other people who are passionate about consumer empowerment.